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Monday, July 29, 2013

The Baseball Historian's Notes for July 29, 2013: Baseball Legacies Ain't What They Used to Be

The recent
suspension of Ryan Braun for 65 games without pay because of his
involvement with PEDs in the Biogenesis scandal is the latest example of the
vastly changed landscape of baseball. It used to be that salacious cheating
came in the form of doctored baseballs, corked bats and stealing signs. It’s a
whole new ballgame now.

The traditional forms of cheating were typically viewed with a laugh
and knowing shake of the head, in addition to modest punishments being meted
out. Even a Hall of Famer like Gaylord Perry wrote a book
lampooning the success he reaped from his ability to make Vaseline a weapon of
mass destruction. These things didn’t hurt player’s reputations; if anything it
frequently made their bones, and not in a bad way.

Performance enhancers are an entirely different kettle of fish. Those
caught juicing have been roundly met with disdain, while those caught multiple
times or found to be tangled in a web of lies have made the remainder of their
careers into punch lines. Braun is already starting to see what his reaping has
sewn, as fans have firmly ensconced
him as the newest poster child for baseball shame. Once he returns to the
field, he may continue to put up big numbers and earn large sums of money, but
for all intents and purposes, his career as he once knew it is over.

***Contrasting the recent disgrace of those associated with PEDs is a
guy like Jimmy Vaughan. He was a semi-pro pitcher in the 1910s and 1920s, who
made a very profitable career out of his ability to throw a spitball and
otherwise doctor the ball with various substances. This article
describes how Vaughan, long deceased, was an incredibly coveted player because
of his goopy talents, and loved by fans because of his ability to baffle
hitters. He didn’t flaunt what he did, but everyone knew he was loading up the
ball. For whatever reason, cheating in baseball is now construed completely
differently than in the past.

***Pitchers don’t always need substances to make the balls do funny
things. Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil Niekro was a maestro in making the
horsehide dance. This brief clip
shows his ability to make hitters look downright foolish on an extremely
off-speed pitch.

***Here is a fantastic
picture of a very young Lou Gehrig. The future Hall of Famer is front and
center, and in the uniform of the Hartford Senators of the Eastern League.
Although the picture is dated 1922, it was almost certainly taken in 1921 or
1923.

Gehrig played 12 games under a false name for Hartford in 1921 in the
summer following his freshman year with Columbia University. He played
incognito because being discovered would have impacted his collegiate
eligibility. Of course, he was found out and forced to sit out the next year at
Columbia. He returned to Hartford in 1923, and debuted with the New York
Yankees later that year, establishing his legacy as the “Iron Horse.”

***Outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. will always be remembered as one of the
most naturally talented players in the history of the game. He could make the
most difficult of plays look effortless, both at the plate and on defense. On May 20, 2006, his talent was great enough to
overshadow a bit of history.

Facing Detroit Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya in Detroit, Griffey, who was
playing for the Cincinnati Reds, he took a 104.8 MPH fastball and
deposited it deep into right field stands for a grand slam. Although it was the
fastest recorded pitch at the time in baseball history, Griffey negated the
impact of that achievement by his big hit, which erased a 5-2 deficit for his
team and helped them go on to win the game.

***This piece, which recently appeared in the
Smithsonian, details the history of the baseball glove. Mitts were first
developed in the 19th century to help players prevent injuries and other wear
and tear on their hands from bare-handing balls and making tag plays. At first,
there was actually a stigma among players about wearing gloves, but as the
designs improved and their utility was proven, they became a staple. There has
been an amazing evolution in gloves, which have become one of the most
important pieces of equipment for a player.

***Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn’s 1957 National League Cy Young
Award recently went up for auction.
It was just one of hundreds of memorabilia items put up for sale by Spahn’s son
Greg, who planned to distribute the proceeds (the award went for $126,000
alone!) among his siblings.

Spahn won the 1957 Cy Young after going 21-11 with a 2.69 ERA in 39
games for the Milwaukee Braves. Incredibly, although he won 20 or more games an
amazing 13 times during his career, that was the only time he won the top
pitching award (He did have four other top-3 finishes).

***And now, your moment of Zen. It’s a serious matter when a player is
injured and has to miss time, but there have been some bizarre things that have
caused boo boos. MentalFloss.com
recently came up with a list of the 24 strangest injuries in major league
history. From the player whose false teeth bit him in the butt when sliding in
to second base, to Wade Boggs suffering a strained back attempting to put on
cowboy boots, there have been some truly odd incidents. While some games were
missed, and a few laughs were had at their expense, none of the players on this
list suffered any long-term issues.